


The Old Legends of the Old Past

by Yahqauup



Category: Digimon Adventure, Digimon Frontier
Genre: Fate & Destiny, Frontier happens before Adventure, Gen, Japanese names, Patamon and Tailmon in Adventure are Ophanimon and Seraphimon in Frontier, Platonic Relationships, Post-Canon, Time Alterations to Canon, digi-evolution leaves its mark in the kids, they are not entirely human
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:49:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 7,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23294275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yahqauup/pseuds/Yahqauup
Summary: Takuya and the others were part of the Digital World and whatever part of it was in them, it has always stayed with them. They feel it when a portal to connects it to the Human World and it makes them feel awake.
Comments: 19
Kudos: 141





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The idea behind this is:  
> 1) that the Frontier kids are still his Digimon counterparts.  
> 2) they retain some of the Digimon DNA in them.  
> 3) when the Digital World gets connected to the Human World, they get more powerful (and less human).  
> 4) the frontier kids are older than the adventure kids.  
> 5) the digimon movie (RedGregymon vs Parrotmon fight) happens when Takuya is in his first year of college (he is studying astronomy, idk why).  
> 6) The Ten Legendary Warriors are kind of minor Gods. They were old in Frontier, they are much much older in Adventure.

He feels it in his veins before he knows it.

Fire in place of blood; he had thought he had forgotten the feeling, the searing of it, but then Digimon ramp through Nerima and he just knows —he could never forget.

* * *

At first, Takuya breathes hot, almost expecting steam out of his nose. At first, he breathes and smiles so wide that Chiharu stops trying to explain frozen stars to him. He bites his lips at her, unable to stop himself when she asks what is so funny.

‘’There’s nothing funny about this,’’ he thinks hysterically. ‘’Sorry,’’ he says for lack of better things to say.

‘’Hypothetical astronomy does bring the crazy out of anyone,’’ she rolls her eyes.

Takuya has brought fires to life as easy as breathing and he wonders, idly, how difficult it would be to create a new star between his fingers. He entertains the idea, watches as Chiharu highlights an entire paragraph about metallicity and he breathes, deep and hot. His phone rings.

* * *

‘’Izumi,’’ he says to the phone, minutes later, his back to the cold wall of the library. Her name in his lips sounds as it has always sounded, a breeze you cannot get a hold of. There’s also wonder in his voice, so he repeats, ‘’Izumi’’.

‘’Takuya,’’ she answers fiercely, as if they’re eleven again. He wishes she were there with him and he could hold her hand. He wishes he could hold Kouji’s hand. They were part of him and he part of them and he longs for it again, just as much as he likes being his own separate person.

‘’I was burning,’’ he whispers to the phone.

She inhales loudly, exhales forcefully, laughs, ‘’Not literally, I hope.’’ The silence stretches and he hears ‘’I heard it again’’.

* * *

It happens again. And again. And again.

Junpei says it must have something to do with the Digital World, Tomoki worries about Trailmons and Koichi worries about everything else. They hope everyone is fine: Bokomon, Neemon and Patamon.

‘’Maybe he’s already Seraphimon’’, Kouji smiles.

Takuya nods and listens to Tomoki talk about summer classes and friends, watches him clutching his jacket despite the heat of the day.

Again, his blood turns to molten lava. He looks at his friends, at Kouji squinting his eyes against the sunshine; at Izumi blowing, answering the trees sough; at the visible goosebumps in Tomoki’s skin; at Junpei standing strong, his feet flat against the earth; and at Koichi caressing his shadow.

They feel it too.

They move together, closer, KaiserGreymon binding them to each other. Then it’s gone and Takuya has Kouji in front of him, blue eyes glassy from the momentary lapse. He feels more than sees Koichi’s hand in his brother's arm, pulling him apart, and Takuya can hardly stop himself from following.

* * *

There’s Digimon fighting in Nerima and Takuya’s study group for Classical Physics is interrupted when he feels the distant explosions in his soul.

A RedGreymon falls, debris flying around him.

‘’This is one of mine,’’ he thinks. From when his skin was made of pyroclasts.

‘’What happened,’’ Agunimon bellows angrily, ‘’for him to digi-evolve like that.’’ Vritramon growls inside him and Takuya wets his lips.

‘’This is not our fight,’’ Flamon silently moves Takuya’s tongue. Takuya knows it, because he’s known destiny for aeons, homeostasis singing it in his ears as they finished the World around him.

‘’Not yet,’’ the part of him that was Susanoomon acknowledges.

And he waits.


	2. Chapter 2

‘’We are all made of code,’’ Bokomon had explained. ‘’Code is information; nothing disappears from us, once we have been something, we will always have been what we were.’’

Months later, Neemon had told Patamon: ‘’We are information.’’

Takuya is Takuya is Flamon is Agunimon is Vritramon is Aldamon is KaiserGreymon is Susanoomon (is Izumi is Junpei is Tomoki is Kouji is Koichi).

At night, he always lights a candle. When he was younger, he bought them scented to appease his parents, for a need of an excuse, but now he just lights a fire and watches himself in the flames.

Takuya was made of fire; he remembers it with the beat of his heart. Takuya will always be fire; he knows it for the itch under his skin.

* * *

‘’A man called Hiroaki Ishida is pushing for the Digimon to be seen in a better light in the news in Fuji TV.’’ Junpei tells them, pushing Hanami dango into his mouth. ‘’He seems to have personal reasons to do so,‘’ Beetlemon continues.

Tomoki places another plate of Bocchan dango on their table and Metalkabuterimon grumbles satisfied. From the kitchen, Izumi laughs. ‘’I think so too. They did turn out good today’’.

They have already closed the café, but Tomoki and Izumi always have to stay late to prepare the next day pastries, so it has become a habit to go to the café.

‘’We can spare some green tea,’’ Chackmon tells them.

Kouji accepts the offer and Louweemon continues to ask about Hiroaki Ishida.

‘’I can’t say that I’ve seen him before,’’ Junpei says. ‘’Heard of him, yes, but we work in completely different areas when I go to Fuji TV.’’

‘’Maybe one of the Chosen?’’ asks Koichi.

‘’Too old,’’ answers Junpei.

‘’We will be too old soon,’’ Kouji laughs.

Inside Takuya, the fire in his blood mumbles:

‘’We are already old.’’

* * *

Takuya recognized the surname Ishida in his list of students. When the time comes for the first class of the semester, Takuya tries to not look and smile at Yamato Ishida. He looks like destiny, the kind of destiny Takuya knows to recognize, Hemoestasis around him, clinging to his human body, defining it against the rest of the classroom and his classmates.

‘’He has light in him,’’ Agunimon reflects.

‘’He ought to show some respect,’’ Vritramon replies.

Takuya writes his name on the blackboard and the part of him that was Susanoomon grumbles:

‘’He is not done yet.’’

Takuya smiles as he begins to explain the objectives of his class.

He will not wait much longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Izumi and Tomoki have a café together. It's probably called something unoriginal but heartfelt like Ten Warriors or something. Izumi started it and when Tomoki grew up enough, they decided they could work together. Now, they're co-proprietors.  
> Koichi works as an attorney.  
> Kouji is a doctor. ;)  
> Junpei defines himself as a mechanic, sometimes he does menial work for Fuji TV.  
> Takuya ended up a college professor, don't ask him or me how.


	3. Chapter 3

Gottsumon had said, once, that the Digital World venerated the Ten Legendary Warriors. He had smiled, looked sad. They had already known, had seen the Candmon praying to Chackmon, the altars to Blizzarmon in the highest and coldest mountains, Petaldramon’s shrines through the forests they walked, but they had listened to Gottsumon talk about them and learnt it again.

* * *

Yutaka’s birthday is nearing and Tomoki worries about preparing a present for his brother or not.

‘’Invite him to your café,’’ Takuya insists.

Kouji hands sink in his side. KaiserGreymon floods him for a moment and when he looks, Kouji’s eyes shine with need. Takuya notices what once was Magnagarurumon pulsing under his skin and it clouds his mind as it must be clouding Kouji’s.

Takuya breathes hot, looks for the light and jumps when Junpei electrocutes them.

Tomoki places cold ice-cream in their hands and Takuya feels it melting in Kouji’s mouth.

‘’We can prepare daifuku for your brother,’’ Izumi says. ‘’You’ve said before that he likes it, haven’t you?’’

‘’Do you need help?’’ He slurs.

‘’No. You’re still forbidden from any kitchen, Takuya. Don’t even think about it.’’

‘’How old is he again?’’ tries to say Kouji.

‘’Not as old as us,’’ answers Tomoki. Or Chackmon. Or Blizzarmon.

And they laugh.

* * *

Izumi does not like secrets, she does not keep them and the wind does not let her respect other people’s secrets. Fairimon and Shutumon have grown quiet since they discovered JetSilphymon, making curtains and leaves flutter when they think about it too much.

‘’The Chosen in your class will talk to you,’’ they tell him. ‘’Reveal yourself to him.’’

They always sound far away, untouchable. Takuya, who has always let himself spread, hot and blazing, can understand some parts of it.

‘’Why now?’’

‘’Why not?’’, inquires Tomoki, preparing a new batch of Nerikiri.

_

Yamato Ishida comes to his office looking for answers, but not the ones Izumi told him he had to answer. His co-worker is not here, though, so Agunimon thinks that it’s a good idea to come clear. Vritramon uncaringly growls fiercely from the back of his head, but Takuya has grown long used to not let it out of his human mouth.

Takuya advises him on his next essay and reminds him to start studying for the exams. When everything is done and Yamato Ishida prepares to go, he calls:

‘’Kid.’’ Agunimon tells him, ‘’You’ve got some light in you.’’

A blond eyebrow rises:

‘’What does that mean?’’

Takuya does not let Vritramon smile, carefully hides his teeth inside his mouth:

‘’It means that you are very very close to a Digimon that is kind of related to a friend. It leaves an imprint in you, you know, and we know it very well.’’

‘’A friend?’’

Takuya nods, fells Hemoestasis laugh around them, a buzzing that slightly obscures the office, and watches Yamato Ishida form fists with his hands.

‘’Who is _we_?’’

‘’I just meant me. I do that sometimes.’’

He does not look like he understands.

‘’Your friend is a Digimon, I guess?’’

Takuya draws a line over his lips, discreetly touching his teeth with the tip of his nail.

He prepares to explain.


	4. Chapter 4

Agumon and Taichi Yagami, student of the Politics faculty and Yamato Ishida’s best friend look over him with interest. Takuya smiles at the Digimon:

‘’You were in Nerima fifteen years ago, weren’t you?’’

‘’What?’’

‘’How do you know that?’’

‘’Of course I know, I recognized him,’’ he says to Yagami. Then, he adds to Agumon, ‘’You are one of mine’’.

Agumon tilts his head and Takuya smiles at him again. His own possessiveness, a hunger, surprises him, so he shows his fist to the Digimon.

‘’Something to eat?’’

‘’No,’’ He opens his hand holding up a little flame.

‘’A trick?’’

Takuya laughs, lets Vritramon show his teeth, passes the flame from one hand to the other, looks from the Digimon to the humans and eats it.

Agumon laughs at his antics.

‘’No,’’ says Takuya. ‘’I told you, Ishida. I didn’t lie about what we are.’’

Yagami looks thoughtful:

‘’You went to the Digital World.’’

‘’Not to the one you went.’’

The place Takuya went stopped existing when they failed to defend it, but another was put in place, where Bokomon and Neemon stayed with Patamon, Lopmon and Salamon. Takuya likes to think they stayed together.

‘’But yes, I have been to the Digital World.’’

‘’Every DigiDestined we have met until now had a Digimon Partner.’’

‘’I don’t.’’

‘’But you…’’ Yagami tries to put his thoughts in order, ‘’you transformed into a Digimon.’’

‘’I just Digievolved.’’

Agumon startles, surprised, ‘’Like me?’’

‘’Just like you.’’

‘’What does a human digievolve into? I’ve never seen one do that. I didn’t know they could!’’

‘’It depends. Just like you.’’

‘’Did you try to go back?’’ Asks Yagami. Takuya looks at him questioningly. ‘’To the Digital World, I mean. Most people who have gone, have tried to go back.’’

‘’Have they?’’ Takuya wonders. ‘’No, we haven’t. Nor me nor the people I went with.’’

‘’Why not?’’

‘’Why would we?’’ He asks back. ‘’We had no reason to go back, so we didn’t.’’

‘’And portals to the Digital World are not that easier to find,’’ adds Ishida.

‘’It’s not like it’s impossible? But, as I said, we had no reason, so when one appeared, we didn’t follow it.’’

‘’I believe,’’ Yagami says. ‘’That you should talk with Koushiro.’’

* * *

‘’Can I?’’ Junpei points to a computer.

Koushiro Izumi nods and starts to explain how it works, but Junpei simply caresses the machine and laughs.

‘’You’ve got some pretty strong firewalls here,’’ he praises. He taps his fingers near a screen, electrostatic running through the air for a moment. ‘’Sorry’’.

Izumi stops talking, an alarm rings from a speaker and he runs to a big keyboard.

‘’I tried to ask for permission?’’ Junpei tells Takuya. ‘’You can probably open and close portals to the Digital World with that, can’t you? There’s a lot of power stored there, could create a blackout in the entire neighbourhood, maybe the city.’’

The alarm stops ringing and Junpei sighs, relieved.

‘’Sorry, again.’’

‘’Taichi said you think it’s easy to know when and where portals open? And that you don’t use a computer like us.’’ Izumi looks at Takuya, but Junpei is here with him for a reason, so he lets him speak.

‘’We do it just like you, though. The only difference is, as you said, that you use a computer as an intermediary.’’

‘My programme follows concentrations of electric pulses to great electromagnetic disturbances’’

‘’And then, it compares the level of energy variance of the disturbance to a series of already delimited parameters,’’ Junpei continues. ‘’How did you calculate those parameters?’’

‘’Fourier transform?’’

He sounds unsure, but Junpei shrugs, accepting it as an answer.

‘’So, you know where gates are because you can…’’ he points to the screen Junpei had touched.

‘’No. We just recognize the electromagnetic disturbances.’’

Takuya sits down next to a Tentomon, who is listening, looking interested about the conversation.

‘’How do you know they are gates to the Digital World?’’

‘’I guess you could say that we… feel them…’’

Takuya snorts and Junpei makes a rude gesture.

‘’Humans cannot feel those things, though,’’ whispers the Digimon.

‘’Not usually,’’ answers Takuya.

‘’The Digital World leaks through the portals,’’ continues Junpei.’’We know the Digital World, so when there is a portal, we know because we recognize what is leaking.’’

‘’Homeostasis?’’

‘’Part of it it’s homeostasis, yes.’’

Izumi’s eyes shine and his fingers twitche, hovering over a keyboard:

‘’Can you explain how it works?’’

Junpei looks at Takuya.

‘’The twins and Tomoki understand it better than us, though.’’

Takuya agrees with him, so he gives Izumi the direction to the café and promises that they will explain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fact that Koushiro's surname is Izumi is making everything so complicated...


	5. Chapter 5

Izumi cries.

‘’It was Tailmon,’’ she explains. ‘’She’s Ophanimon.’’

Takuya nods. It makes sense, he supposes. Agumon and Vritramon agree too, but he still wishes he could burn everything that makes Izumi cry. There is nothing that he can do against grief, so he hugs her, her head under his chin and draws circles on her back.

‘’She doesn’t remember us,’’ she says later. Shutumon observes, ‘’Too many rebirths.’’

Takuya does not say anything, but she takes her hand and squeezes. It has been a long time since anybody but Izumi has heard Fairimon or Shutumon, but he does not comment on it.

‘’We already knew the Digital World had changed and grown,’’ Fairimon says.

‘’So have we,’’ Izumi says. ‘’And yet, we didn’t expect for them to forget us.’’

‘’Everything moves,’’ reminds Flamon and does not say. He almost asks what happened, but Izumi will tell him on her own terms or not at all. Instead, he makes her drink the tea she has prepared.

* * *

What happened, Takuya learns some days later, is that Koushiro Izumi and Hikari Yagami came to the café with their Digimon partners and Kouji immediately started disassociating.

‘’They have the crest of light too, apparently,’’ Koichi tries to joke about it.

Tomoki saw them next, but he was attending the last clients and hadn’t let himself react.

‘’It was obviously Ophanimon,’’ he says. ‘’So I called Izumi from the Kitchen.’’

When she had come out, Tomoki was already trying to talk to Tailmon, but the Digimon had no idea what he was talking about and everyone else looked like they did not know what to do or what was happening.

Koichi had said they needed to calm down and they had sat down.

‘’You know how it is,’’ says Kouji. ‘’They die and hatch enough times and they start forgetting. How much time do you think must has passed in the Digital World?’’

Izumi had asked about Bokomon and Koushiro Izumi had said they didn’t know that Digimon. Then, Tentomon added that he had heard the name. Apparently, it was the author of a very old book.

‘’From a long time ago, he said. He’s never met any Bokomon. Didn’t know they actually existed.’’

Takuya nods at Tomoki.

‘’At the end, I asked them to leave and come back at another time,’’ finishes Koichi. ‘’I don’t think they understood what happened.’’


	6. Chapter 6

Vritramon had been born from lava and made from tephra. His roar had transformed the volcanoes where he had been born and Takuya has not forgotten how it felt to have his skin melt and be rebuilt in unhuman shapes and inhuman substance. He remembers his own screams as he dissolved in data and his data transformed to a Digimon, has not forgotten his friends' screams. Nor Cheburimon’s corruption or Lucemon’s rage.

Vritramon was a beast, it was written in the Digimon's data and in Takuya’s DNA. There was a rage in him that Takuya could not express in human words, but he knew that his friends understood it because they felt it too, knew it by the way Koichi always felt more awake at night and Kouji preferred sunny days, by how Junpei understood machines or Izumi breathed, by the way Tomoki lives for winter days and he thrives on the hottest ones.

Takuya looks at those children and he can see some parts of himself and his friends on them. The Digital World has left a mark in them too. Maybe their blood is not fire like his and they do not know what it is to be completely unhuman in shape and soul, but they know the Digital World as he does. There is power in sharing an experience, Neemon had taught that to the Warriors.

Patamon looks at them from Ishida’s brother’s arms and it’s similar enough to how Izumi used to carry him when the night came and they kept on walking that Takuya is surprised by how much it pains him. Bokomon used to complain about children growing up and Takuya is now old enough that he understands that, but he is still young enough to discover that growing distant hurts more.

Takeru Takaishi introduces himself and tells them about his hope crest.

‘’Hope is the last thing to always stand,’’ Koichi remembers. Takaishi laughs and, apparently, that’s what makes Patamon decide that he likes Koichi.

* * *

‘’She had the light crest,’’ Takaishi tells him when he notices him looking at Kouji talking to Hikari Yagami and Tailmon.

Takuya looks at the girl. From what he knows, she’s Taichi Yagami’s younger sister and he can see the resemblance. Homeostasis clings to her like he is used to see on Ishida, but it clearly is more eager to be with her than with the others. The way Takuya understands it, that means that it will be easier for it to communicate with her. And use her, because that’s the kind of being Homeostasis is. It puts the fact that she went to talk about it with Koichiro Izumi to the café in perspective.

‘’Kouji is light, too.’’ He finally says, although he thinks it’s a weird thing to say. He knows the Digital World, though, so he still expects Takaishi to understand.


	7. Chapter 7

The portals are open and Takuya’s entire body itches for it. It’s like it has always been like that. Takuya tries to explain the universe in numbers in his classes and waits for Homeostasis to calm down. It buzzes, overbearing, but Takuya is a patient man, so he reminds his students to start studying for the next exam and shrugs when they ask him about the new technologies the Digital World may bring.

The government tries to control the Digimon, new laws pass and Yagami takes on more responsibility than any university student should. His sister and her friend, light and hope, talk about lifeless worlds and universes full of void with the twins and Junpei laughs and enjoys Koushirou Izumi’s creations and programmes.

‘’You worry too much,’’ Izumi tells him. The breeze comes dancing from a window and makes her hair move, gentle and unstoppable. It makes Tomoki laugh:

‘’He worries the right amount, I think.’’

‘’And how do you measure it?’’

‘’Hey!,’’ comes another laugh from behind a rosy tea that Takuya suspects is not as sweet as it looks. ‘’You’re the one who began it!’’

Izumi clings a spoon against her cup, Tomoki makes a thoughtful noise and Takuya considers:

‘’It’s not bad to be prepared.’’

‘’Nobody said it was. But we’re okay, aren’t we, Tomoki?’’

‘’We are indeed,’’ answers Chackmon for everybody.

* * *

The news talk about excursions to the Digital World and Kouji refuses to take the opportunity to go with a team of doctors from his hospital.

Joe Kido does go; Ishida trusts him and so do the rest of the kids, everyone assured that there’s at least one person who knows what they’re doing.

‘’He’s a reliable man,’’ Ishida tells him after class. He says in that way that is half joke and half trust, deep meaning in his voice that makes Takuya smile. ‘’You can always count on him.''

He wants to joke that he does not distrust the man when he hasn’t even met him, but Homesostasis affirms Ishida’s words in a way that says that _this, too, is destiny_ , so Takuya calms Flamon down when it wants to run after the particles in the air and invites his student for a tea.

Patience, Takuya knows, is the answer to a lot of questions, so they walk in silence until Ishida breaks it:

''Don't you miss it?''

''The Digital World? Sometimes,'' he admits. ''It must be different for you; because we can always feel it, one way or another. Do you miss it?''

''Sometimes. Other times, I don't really think about it.''

''Like a dead friend.'' You almost forget about it for a while, but it always comes back to you, painfully and inevitably.

''Yes, like that. I miss Gabumon, more than anything.''

''I don't think I can understand that,'' Takuya thinks aloud. ''I miss the friends I made, but we did not have a partner like you kids do. Getting separated after forming such a deep bond must hurt.''

''It was sad.''

Takuya wonders about it, about Agunimon and Vritramon so deeply interspersed in his soul and yet in different bodies, about saying goodbye to a part of himself and parting with it, irremediably losing a part of what makes him Takuya, and ' _'Mercy is for the weak''_ , laughs Vritramon, but maybe it was merciful, to let those kids that came after him remain more human than them. Nevertheless, Ishida continues to walk next to him, half lost in his own memories. He settles for telling him the truth.

''It must have hurt.''

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and after Idk how much time, here I come back. hi?


	8. Chapter 8

When they were young and they had not met each other yet, Takuya remembers looking after his brother and his mother telling him, ‘’Shinya is younger than you, Takuya, you have to teach him.’’ Responsibility was something that Takuya learnt later, on a larger scale than his mother would have liked. Then, he used to get bored easily, his ability to enjoy the quietness not yet acquired, and Shinya too quiet and too soft.

Tomoki once told him that he was a good big brother, ‘’You were to me’’, but Takuya had eaten Shinya’s cake the day they had come back to their world and had known.

There is something to be said about seconds opportunities and Takuya had grown and Shinya had grown too. Shinya complained about Takuya being ‘’a weird big brother’’ and Takuya laughed and taught his brother to play football and to cook hamburgers while they grew old and together.

‘’Older brothers worry too much,’’ Hikari Yagami jokes.

‘’That’s our job,’’ Ishida tells her.

‘’It’s not like you have something to worry about,’’ his younger brother admonishes.

‘’That’s what you want me to think!’’

Tomoki sits next to him and smiles:

‘’They’re still kids.’’

‘’So are you!’’ Screams Izumi from two chairs over.

‘’I’m pretty sure I am not.’’

‘’You’re still the little brother, though.’’ Takuya adds his own two cents.

‘’Yeah! If you’re the little brother, you’re always a kid!’’ Laughs Taichi Yagami, to which his sister exclaims:

‘’That is not true!’’

‘’Yes, it is.’’ Helps Ishida.

There is something to be said about second opportunities, Takuya thinks, his own brother in his mind. There’s something to be said about learning from your mistakes and using them to do better. At least, he knows, they could grow together.

‘’That’s why it’s better to be a twin with no older brothers,’’ says Kouji.

Koichi snorts and rolls his eyes.

‘’You only say that because you’re the younger and you don’t want to admit it!’’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter felt more longer when I was writing it...  
> Also, the next one will be the first one without Takuya on it. To be fair, I did not intend to write any of this fic from Takuya perspective, it just happened that way.
> 
> Do you people have any idea what Izumi and Tomoki's café may be named? it is possible that I need a name for some... backstory purposes... Nothing sure yet, though.


	9. Chapter 9

Hikari Yagami visited Kouji. She asked about light and Kouji answered.

‘’Light reflects and light reveals and light, everybody has to learn one day, hurts as much as any other weapon.’’

Koushiro would have written down the information. He always did, almost like he was afraid of it being lost in their memories. But there was only Hikari. Instead, she waited. The sun shined through the windows of the hospital’s cafeteria, almost lighting his dark hair ablaze, and the lights above them flickered at times, as if they wanted to emphasise what he was saying.

But nothing ever shined as much as Kouji Minamoto’s eyes when he let them. Hikari recognized something in him, some dim shadow that she could find in the mirror in her worse nights, when the nightmares come to her and Takeru hasn’t answered the phone yet.

She wanted to ask him, _what does the world want_ and _what does it want from me_ and _why me_ , but if she knew the answers, if Kouji Minamoto knew the answers and told her, she didn’t know how she woud live with them.

The coffee was too hot and his white coat too white, his fingers twitching like he was playing a tune in an imaginary piano.

‘’Do you play any instruments?’’ She asked.

Tailmon was at Koushiro’s studio and Takeru had a date with some girl from their school year, so Hikari had come alone to talk with the man who was light like her.

‘’That’s not the question you want to ask.’’

Light, Kouji knew, was the best place to hide your secrets when you knew how. Kouji knew, better than anybody, how. And he was willing to teach if asked. Knowledge was like light too, a fine weapon when you know how to wield it.

‘’Sometimes,’’ Hikari began, feeling like she was opening herself too much to somebody he trusted too little, ‘’it controls me. My body and I do his bidding, to be what they wants of us.’’

Kouji smiled at her and she burnt her tongue with her too-hot coffee. It was not a question, exactly, but it deserved an answer.

‘’Destiny is what the world will make of you. And you already know that the Digital World was made by Homeostasis. But your future will always be written by your choices.’’

‘’How?’’

‘’There are always paths and roads to follow. There are always intersections to be found. Roads are built and destroyed and we walk on them every day without a single thought about them.’’

And Hikari’s body would be moved for her, her feet walking some path she would not see.

‘’Don’t walk. Hide. Don’t answer when they call.’’ Kouji said as if he could read her thoughts.

‘’How?’’

‘’Don’t listen.’’

‘’That’s what I do,’’ she explained. ‘’Until it gets too loud.’’

‘’Then, listen and learn,’’ he told her, kindly, ‘’and when the time comes, you will know the voices enough you will know what they want before they rob you of your will.’’

The light, she couldn’t stop noticing, illumined him from every source, it caressed him and passed by him, creating shadows like it was a game. He did not seem troubled by it, so she asked if he could control it.

‘’You cannot control light more than you can control a breeze or the eruption of a volcano. You aim it and you let it go.’’


	10. Chapter 10

Junpei works with his hands. He likes his fingerprints on the things he builds, a mark to say _this was me, I made this_. He is good at his work, he knows, because his co-workers say so and because he feels the electricity buzzing in the machines he works with, buzzing with confidence, assuring him that they will work.

Junpei has told them this, as they tell each other these kinds of things.

‘’Koushirou Izumi computers feel loved,’’ he says. ‘’Maybe too heated from overworking…’’

Takuya can tell he is having fun by the way he tends to ramble. They listen to him all the same, of course. Izumi is smiling her kind smile, but Shutumon strains the edge of it and Takuya, who remembers Izumi saying he worries too much, cannot help but worry.

Junpei does not stop talking, but he arches an eyebrow that Tomoki answers with a shrug.

‘’How do you think are the humans in the Digital World doing?’’, she finally asks.

‘’They are doing ok,’’ Junpei says. ‘’Not doing much more than exploring, though. Kido wouldn’t let them.’’

‘’Yeah, I’ve heard the same in the hospital.’’ Adds Kouji. ‘’He is somebody that will stand by his choices once he’s decided on them and he wants to protect the Digital World, so you can be assured that he will. Everybody is sure that he will do the best he can.’’

‘’But that’s not what you’ve heard,’’ guesses Koichi.

‘’You know the way the wind moves words… Sometimes it’s hard to put them in the correct order…’’

‘’But you’ve heard something,’’ tries to make her continue Takuya. Izumi laughs, Takuya can see that she founds his sentence funny in her closed eyes, but it’s Fairimon that says the words that everybody knows but won’t say aloud.’’

‘’It’s calling for us to go back.’’

* * *

Takuya had the weight of a world in his shoulders and his soul rebuilt to be bared to the world. The Digital World knew him, even if he didn’t know the world back completely. He had Ophanimon’s mark in his heart and he’s always known, he cannot deny it and would not lie to himself. He teaches and his students learn, so at the end of each day, he congratulates himself for a work well done.

Ishida says he wants to be an astronaut and Takuya laughs.

‘’Dream big, boy.’’ Flamon tells him. ‘’And good luck!’’

‘’You will do it,’’ assures Vritramon.

Agnimon advises ‘’You’ll need to work hard. But remember that it’s more important to work steady.’’

Ishida looks at Takuya surprised, unused to hearing all of them and unsure how to react at them talking. Izumi had said the words aloud and maybe things had already been changing, but now the time for going back was nearing and looking human matters less, so Takuya lets every piece of his soul talk and hopes that Ishida recognizes the trust implicit in the act.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, this story is almost finished (I hope). but let me complain: keeping all the names from the same version is killing me, I don't even know how I have ended up knowing the names from one version for some digimon and some names from another version... but it's killing me


	11. Chapter 11

‘’These things have a way to solve themselves, don’t you think?’’ Kouji whispers to his ear. Takuya has no idea what these things are, but he nods all the same because Kouji would never lie to him.

Takuya breathes, inhales deeply and exhales, slowly, certain. MagnaGarurumon always calls for KaiserGreymon and Takuya and Kouji’s bodies do not always know how to deny the call.

Patamon looks with big eyes and Takuya finds it in himself to ache for the past. ‘’Do you remember…?’’ Kouji starts to say before Patamon lands at their feet.

‘’Why do you never talk about going to the Digital World? Do you not like it?’’

‘’What?’’

Takeru Takaishi watches their reactions with curiosity, but Takuya bites down Vritramon’s laugh as he usually does with its fire. Tomoki is the one who finally answers, and he does it with the regal attitude of Blizzarmon.

Nobody seems particularly happy with Tomoki’s words, but Koichi’s mouth seems to be fighting a smile and Kouji stretches his arm to pinch his brother.

Patamon used to be like that too. Asked questions innocently, always wanting to learn new things and understand the world and everything that made it. Bokomon used to explain things patiently unless it was Neemon who was asking, and they all remembered nights next to bonfires listening to the Digimon talk about his world. Missed them.

This is their Patamon, he knows. Different, but unchanged. Tailmon jumps from a table and gets closer to her friend, and that, too, remains the same.

‘’What does it mean?’’

Everybody looks at Takuya, leaving the decision to what to say to him. It’s trust and it’s a respect that Takuya reciprocates, so he looks at the children and their Digimon and ponders at Tomoki’s words.

‘’Once, someone told us that everything we have been will remain with us forever,’’ he starts. At the edge of his vision, he sees Koichi listening, almost as if he is getting prepared to hear a bedtime story. Takuya thinks about Bokomon, about he used to explain things and tell them stories and history and about how the lines between the two always blurred. Looking at the younger ones, he continues: ‘’When we were young, and when we were in the Digital World, we were warriors; that world does not exist anymore.’’ _The first moment we digievolved_ , he thinks, _we turned into data permanently._ Instead, to Tailmon and Patamon, he says: ‘’We were warriors, once, we were gods, you must understand. Not when we were young, not then, and not before we had stepped into the Digital World, but always.’’

Patamon and Tailmon have to understand because they are Ophanimon and Seraphimon. Always have been and always will be. This is also their story, the one he will tell them, so he talks carefully, almost like teaching a class, and patiently.

In his mind, he hears Neemon voice saying _First, there was darkness_ and it sounds a little like his own voice at a podium _First, there was nothing._ And Bokomon would correct them and remind them of the importance of truth, and the way he promised to tell their stories, so it would be preserved into history.

Tentomon buzzes interested, the Yagami brothers listen next to each other, and Izumi hears so much more than anyone else in the room than Takuya wants to stop and try to listen too.

At the end, he breathes again and waits.

Koichiro Izumi is the first to talk:

''Some of the things you said... I've read them before in the Digital World...''

‘’See,’’ Kouji whispers, when they see that Tailmon is quietly sitting next to Koichi. ‘’I told you.’’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are 2 chapters left and I see no reason as to why I wouldn't post ch.12 next week. I can't believe this fic is going to have 13 chapters... that's bad luck.


	12. Chapter 12

It hums with meaning, almost enthusiastically. The world blurs around Takuya, Homeostasis whispering soundless words and manifesting imageless representations so heavy it is deafening.

The chalk writes on the blackboard, his hand steady with practice. His back to his students, Takuya holds back Vritramon wild laugh, his lips straining with the effort. He almost tastes blood and the part of his soul that was every one of his friends all at once screams inside of his head, longing for the feel of programming in its skin. _I was alive_ , it says, and Takuya writes an equation in response, _you are still alive_ , to silence its voice.

This is also part of their destiny —Homeostasis always wants something and it pushes to completion, burying itself under skins and stones, building and placing what it wants where it wants when it wants (or maybe it's about _can_ and not _want_ , sometimes). Nevertheless, Takuya promised his students his time and knowledge until the end of the semester, so he ignores the push (it feels so much like permission that Vritramon's rage bleeds into his grasp of the chalk) and fulfils his promises.

''That, too, is part of fate '', Koichi would say, but Takuya ascribes to freedom of choice, so he chooses to wait (he is used to it).

* * *

Tomoki washes the dishes by hand, the water freezing so cold mist arises from the sink.

‘’Do you think…’’ he begins, quietly, ‘’we will still belong among the new world?’’

Digimon prayed for Blizzardmon in the mountains; Takuya remembers hymns in little villages, short and hushed things sung quickly while they were working, walking home or at the edge of the day. Once, he heard something that sounded thankful from Zudomon after an earthquake and the deep melody stayed with him for days.

‘’Sure’’, he answers nonchalantly. Because he cannot imagine Blizzardmon and Chalkmon not standing up to what they want and expect of any world, he asks ‘’Are you worried?’’

Tomoki dries his hands, nods to himself and sits down:

‘’It won’t be what we were used to be…’’

They always sat somewhere between help and helpful (and sometimes, useless). There were hours of walking and walking, lands and silences that spread out until they seemed interminable. Maybe Bokomon also wrote about that, between the times they arrived to late to destruction or the times that they left destruction behind, about the horizon blending with the sand of the desert, long railways and the things they said to each other (friendly, kindly, cruel, angry). But maybe Neemon did not allow him.

Things change, as people do. Takuya does not think that is a bad thing.

In the living room, Junpei finishes telling a joke and Izumi laughs. They can also hear the twins talking, but not their words. Everything is quiet and it feels so, despite everything that tells them to go to the Digital World.

''And we're not how we used to be.''

Takuya smiles when he sees Tomoki agrees and, because he worries too, he says:

‘’And Junpei says he’s not sure they are going to let us pass through a portal.’’

''And Izumi says Yagami will let us.''

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will never say I will do something on the internet again. I see I do not stand by my word. That, or my weeks are one month long.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is! The last chapter! Honestly, after not updating the last chapter when I said I would, I do not think you people who are reading this to deserve to wait even more. so here I give you the complete story. have fun and thank you for the kudos and the comments, they really make life better. <3

‘’We will talk about you for years to come,’’ Bokomon had said, a quill in his mouth as he prepared to write in his book.

‘’For centuries to come,’’ Neemon had said, in his serious tone that always made them pause and listen, ‘’we will know your feats and speak your names.’’

This is where they were born to be. The Digital World was never their home neither where they wanted to return to, but it is where they exist more as themselves than any other place. Their bodies rebuilt themselves here, years ago, centuries ago. Everything rebuilt itself around them, here, so much time ago that almost everybody and everything has forgotten.

Takuya laughs, trying not to cry. Around them, every fire in the pagumons’ village grows and dances, lighting the houses and the trees, scared and surprised faces.

They used to pray to them, Takuya remembers, and they still do, he knows. They will, again, someday, and then they will be forgotten just to be remembered again. Time is linear, said one of his professors. Time is circular, said another.

The wind blows and screams from the woods and the ruins. _Welcome home_. Izumi’s blond hair moves, almost sweetly, and next to her, Hikari Yagami looks boringly human. Izumi breaths, the air breaths. It moves, unstoppable, untouchable, ungraspable. _Welcome back_. There is a difference between being a thing of legend and being a God. Izumi and her friends never felt the need to learn it, but she knows there is a difference. It never mattered to them, though, only to others.

Junpei gives candies. Not to win their affections, though, only because it is always nice to make others smile. He smiles back and eats one of his candies. It is minty and fresh, he crushes it with his teeth and listens to the sound of the candy breaking into pieces. Under his feet, something rumbles. He feels for the electricity, listens for the _clank, clank_ of automatization. It is the soul of soulless things. The life of what haves no life. Manmade, Digimon-made, made from what was there before, changed, processed, transformed to synthetic. In the Digital World, there is no such thing as unnatural, just that which is not natural; lighting falls over the peaks of some far-away mountains and Junpei tries to explain this to Koushiro Izumi.

Patamon flies from Takeru’s head and lands at Tailmon’s side. Koichi has never thought of it as flying, exactly. He could not explain it if he tried, so he thinks of it and remains silent, listening to what the pair is saying. _They are weird_ , one notices, which is nothing he has not heard before. Still, he keeps the shadows quiet where nobody pays attention to them. Above them, the sky shines blue, no cloud but the distant ones that outline the horizon grey. _This is kind of weird, isn’t it?_ Asks one of the kids. _It sure is_ , Koichi thinks, but does not answer. He doubts they have not seen weird before, when they have been chosen too. _We got a question and we answered, that was our destiny,_ he would say. _We chose to accept fate_. They did not, he knows, so he does not explain himself. They did not receive a call, for their destiny called in different ways, so they would not fully understand what it is to chose to be chosen when he cannot fully understand what it is when you do not.

Koichi does not hide, but he remains unseen. Unlike his brother, Kouji does not repress his light. Gabumon looks at him, impressed, and Yamato Ishida looks at him, looking for answers. He does not have them. Or he will not give them, maybe. A light beam passes through his fingers and he keeps it in his palm for a second, maybe half, and then lets it go. There is something wholly unhuman about them when they let go like this, he knows. They recognized first in themselves and then in each other (or maybe it was the other way around, he does not remember completely how it went). Takenouchi wants to ask, Piyomon is distracted by the fires, a little scared. He does not answer, as he usually does not do. Instead, when he feels the trembling under his skin, he gently moves her away from where the light is going to explode into Digievolution.

Data gathers around Tomoki. Kouji and Koichi always talk about how the light and dark used to be one and the same for a moment when they changed, but Tomoki only ever felt the change itself, never what happened to everything else. The pagumons’ village is hot, lighted by Takuya’s fires into long shadows, but Tomoki can perfectly see the mountains at the edge of the horizon, the thunderstorm that will not come here for days. Izumi loves him enough (she loves them all to death) to bring him the cold winds of the mountain and he feels it with his fingers, his cheeks, the cold kiss of ice in his lips when he listens to his heart. His feet do not touch the floor, the scream almost breaks his soul and the aftermath soothes it to its entirety again (he has never forgotten what it felt to be undone to nothingness and built from nothingness again, so he is not surprised). Where before stood Tomoki, still stands Tomoki Himi. However, as Tentomon tells his partner, he is Chalkmon.

They are having fun, Taichi agrees with Agumon. Next to him, Yamato also nods and when they agree on something, Taichi always has to laugh. Takuya Kanbara looks at them, startled by the sound, one eyebrow raised in a silent question.

‘’You surprised us, that is all.’’

‘’That is all,’’ repeats Yamato’s professor, understanding in his face. ‘’I am sure you will surprise us too.’’ He smiles, a forceful thing of terrifying teeth that eats uncontrollably the usual kindness of his features, ‘’We will wait for you to.’’

Taichi is happy to not hear a dare in his words when the rage on this man has scared the less brave away from him and he does not seem surprised at all.


End file.
